Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Jumping to conclusions

Will he or won't he? Only Scott Brown knows for sure. The Boston dailies sure don't.

Speculation about Brown's political intentions has been the local political parlor game around here ever since he lost to Elizabeth Warren and John Kerry's name was whispered as a Secretary of State nominee. It stepped up dramatically when Long Jawn departed for Foggy Bottom.

But the game has never been as much fun as today, with the Globe speculating Brown's decision to accept a job with the Nixon, Peabody law firm means he won't jump into the 2014 governor's race and the Herald suggesting just the opposite.

My money on a no-go.

The Herald declares Brown "left the door wide open" based on a one-sentence response:

“Not quite sure what the future holds. I’ll make that announcement, I would think, in a while.”

Meanwhile, the Globe offers an unnamed source who indicates it's Baker's race if he wants it:

“They’ve had a conversation and Scott’s turned to other things. He’s not
running for governor in 2014,” said one prominent Republican with
knowledge of the exchange, which took place last month.

And the Globe backs it up with a second unnamed source:

A Republican fund-raiser with ties to both the Brown and Baker camps
confirmed the February conversation in which Brown indicated to Baker
that he would not seek the corner office next year. Governor Deval
Patrick has said he will not seek a third term, leaving a wide-open
race.

Two unnamed sources trumps one direct evasion in my book.

We know election speculation is the local political pastime (Pope Sean anyone?) And Brown, who has enjoyed toying with the media, has no incentive to shut the door publicly, particularly when it comes to his other job as a Fox News commentator.